The Director of the National Park Service is pleased to send you the following announcements and actions on properties for the National Register of Historic Places. For further information contact Edson Beall via voice (202) 354-2255, fax (202) 371-2229, regular or E-mail: Edson_Beall@nps.gov (Edson_Beall@nps.gov)

Visit The National Park Service's (NPS) National Register of Historic Places' newest online travel itinerary, Indian Mounds of Mississippi, at www.cr.nps.gov/nr This newest online travel itineary features 11 historic American Indian mounds, constructed from 100 B.C. to 1700 A.D. throughout the state of Mississippi. The purposes of the most ancient mounds found on this travel itinerary are still shrouded in mystery. However, different theories emerge from modern archeology as to their use. Some speculate that like ancient peoples in other parts of the world, the Americans Indians built the mounds as monuments to the dead.
Another theory maintains that the elite among the American Indian society lived on the raised mounds, while others speculate that the mounds served a cultural/religious function, with temples on top serviced by priests, who were well-versed in astrology. The mounds can be found in groups of as many as 20 or more, as at Winterville, but some stand alone. Some mounds are arranged around broad plazas, while others are connected by earthen ridges. Their shapes vary as well. They can be flat-topped pyramids, rounded domes, or barely perceptible rises on the landscape. The sizes vary also, from 55 feet high to 4 feet high, with the Emerald Mound, a National Historic Landmark, measuring 770 by 435 feet at the base. For each of the 11 featured historic mounds, the itinerary includes a written description of the site's significance, including color photographs, directions and public accessibility information. At the bottom of each page, the visitor will also find a navigation bar containing links to three essays that explain more about the history of the mound builders, how the mounds were built, and current preservation efforts regarding these historic treasures. The online Mississippi map presents a statewide overview of the location of the mounds. The travel itinerary derives from a brochure prepared by the National Park Service's Southeast Archeological Center in conjunction with the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.